News

Two women were robbed at gunpoint Sunday evening walking to their car in a Modesto mall parking lot.

The women had just left the JC Penney on the west end of the Vintage Faire Mall around 7:30 p.m. when they were approached by at least two men in a red pickup truck, said Heather Graves, a spokeswoman with the Modesto Police Department.

Graves said one of the men pointed a gun at the women and took a cell phone and a purse.

A major injury crash has shutdown traffic on eastbound Yosemite Boulevard in Modesto.

Heather Graves with the Modesto Police Department said the accident happened at around 10 a.m. on Yosemite Boulevard and South Morton Boulevard.

According to Graves, a woman and her child were in the crash and were both taken to a nearby hospital for their injuries. The woman is in critical condition. Her child was airlifted to a hospital with major injuries.

Graves estimated the road will be closed for a couple hour while investigators are on the scene.

Modesto police are looking for two suspects in connection with a shooting that left one person dead on Tuesday night.

The shooting happened in the 1500 block of F Street at around 6 p.m. According to the Modesto Bee, police said they found a man shot inside of a Toyota pickup. He was taken to the hospital where he later died.

"There was a lot of property outside of the residence that made it difficult for firefighters to get into the residence," Alan Ernst with the fire department said. "Property, materials, that had been accumulated probably over years of living in the residence."

Karen Nunes, a neighbor, watched it all unfold from across the street..

"You feel devastation. Like you can't help them," she said.

She said the man who died may have saved others in the house.

"He warned him that there was a fire,” Nunes said. “The guy who came out said ‘I believe he saved my life cause I think he got trapped back there.’"

The department confirmed one person was killed in the fire and another person was not home at the time of the fire.

A sheriff canine was injured Friday morning after being stabbed during a fight with a violent suspect. Just before 4 a.m., deputies with the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department were sent to the Quick Stop on Paradise Road in Modesto to look into a suspicious person near the store.

The store clerk said he thought a man loitering out front was going to rob the store. After deputies talked to the man, identified as Wesley Brackney, refused to comply with orders. A deputy decided to deploy his canine partner Rocky to arrest Brackney.

As Rocky moved in, Brackney pulled out a knife and started to stab the dog. Deputies were able to take the knife away from Brackney and arrest him.